Intentions to Marry, 1881

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840393, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, January 31 2025

Page 401

District of Wellington Quarter ending 31 March 1881

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
1	4 January 1881	William Gordon King Ellen Sophia Oakley	William Gordon King Ellen Sophia Oakley 💍 1881/308	Bachelor Spinster	Railway Clerk	25 18	Wellington Te Aro	5 years 5 years	St Marks Church	81/214	John Downes Oakley, Father	4 January 1881	Reverend Richard Coffey
2		Walter Swanger Janet Hogg	Walter Swanger Janet Hogg 💍 1881/317	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher	30 23		6 years 3 years	Reverend J. Patersons, The Terrace	81/204			Reverend James Paterson
3		George Pyke Taylor Frances Maude Stock	George Pyke Taylor Frances Maude Stock 💍 1881/2742	Bachelor Spinster	Bank Clerk	29 19	Te Aro	all life	St Peters	81/227	Arthur Stock, Father
4		Brabazon Disney O'Halloran Maria Julia Buchanan	Brabazon Disney OHalloran Maria Julia Buchanan 💍 1881/2743	Bachelor Spinster	Telegraphist	30 21	Thorndon	4 days 5 years	St Pauls	81/233			Reverend B. W. Harvey
5	10 January 1881	Henry Jenkins Mary Jane Corner	Henry Jenkins Mary Jane Corner 💍 1881/1409	Bachelor Spinster	Printer	21 18		20 years 18 years	Registrars Office	81/359	William Small, Father	10 January 1881	Joseph G. Holdsworth
6	12 January 1881	Jeremiah Nash Ellen Cahill	Jeremiah Nash Ellen Cahill 💍 1881/2741	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	30 21			St Mary of the Angels	81/212		12 January 1881	Reverend P. Kerrigan
7	13 January 1881	Arthur Stuart Ramsay Helena Hansmann	Arthur Stuart Ramsay Helena Hausman 💍 1881/322	Bachelor Spinster	Photo-lithographer	23 28		23 years 5 years	House of Bridegroom, Brook Street	81/205		13 January 1881	Reverend James Paterson
8		Robert Pulliam Fallows Mary Ann Kelliher	Robert Pulham Sallows Mary Ann Kelleher 💍 1881/326 Robert Bellamy Mary Ann Wilkie 💍 1881/3293	Bachelor Spinster	Waiter	29 25		2 years 2 years	Roman Catholic Cathedral	81/209		13 January 1881	Reverend John McNamara
9	17 January 1881	Herbert Cox Mathilda Catley	Herbert Cox Matilda Catley 💍 1881/2979	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	35 22	Smith Street	3 years all life		81/238		17 January 1881	Reverend J. S. Hinton
10	18 January 1881	Michael Carbines Helen Walsh	Michael Carberry Ellen Walsh 💍 1881/327	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer	26 21		14 months 2 months	St Mary's Cathedral, Hill Street	81/210		18 January 1881	Reverend Father McNamara
11	19 January 1881	William Wilson Amy Emma Keep	William Wilson Amy Emma Keep 💍 1881/2960	Bachelor Spinster	Tailor	32 22	Te Aro	4 years 4 years	St Peters	81/228		19 January 1881	Venerable Archdeacon Stock
12	24 January 1881	Anthony Rowland Mina Gertrude Brown	Anthony Rowband Mina Gertrude Brown 💍 1881/2971	Bachelor Spinster	Clerk	38 24	Te Aro	5 years 10 years	St Peters	81/229		24 January 1881	Venerable Archdeacon Stock

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).